Notes: Oooh, and I gave Daisuke's fairy tale a little more significance than I originally intended! That's what I get for trying to waste space. ^^; All the original notes about Tamachi, Tokyo, and Odaiba, as well as Miyako apply here, too. ^^
BG info on "The Tinder Box": Since I gave it a little more significance than I originally intended, here's what you need to know. A soldier climbed down into a tree to retrieve a tinder box for an old woman and some gold for himself. After the old woman refused to tell the soldier what she planned to do with the tinder box, he killed her. Later on, the soldier needs to light a candle and remembers there was a match in the tinder box. When he strikes the match, one of the dogs he encountered while in the tree came to his service (there were three dogs, all with huge eyes.) The soldier had heard about a princess who no one was allowed to see, so he asked the dog to bring the princess to him, and he did. There's more to the story, but that's all you need to know.
Disclaimer: I still don't own any of the cities, any of the characters, or anything having to do with Digimon or "The Tinder Box".
Bewitching the Dragon
Part One -- Chapter
Two
By: Hanae Michiko
===============
The gaze of
azure blue eyes grazed over Tamachi. The blue dragon had done more damage than the night before, and Ken's
young blonde servant was beginning to worry that there was no hope. He sunk into a chair next to the window and
stared with glazed eyes at the town. The town his once-master took so much pride in was now being destroyed
by his very own fault. Innocents were
dropping like flies, and the boy feared that when the dragon had run out of
places and people to terrorize, he would turn on his own home.
Takeru
sighed. They had called for help what
seemed like ages ago, but it had only been three days. Two days since they received word back that
someone was being sent. It was taking
too long, though. By the time the hero
arrived, there would be nothing left of Tamachi to save.
"Oh
well. Might as well check on the
refugees. No sense in worrying."
Several
people had fled Tamachi in fear, running north to find a safe place to
stay. Others, who had nowhere else to
go, ran to Ken's palace to be saved, and Takeru and the other servants had
happily given them refuge. Others still
were confident enough in themselves to think they would not fall victim to the
blue dragon's wrath. Others like
Miyako.
Takeru
scowled at the name. Everything was
that evil witch's fault! The downfall
of Tamachi…the fact that Ken was an angry blue dragon... And simply because Ken didn't find interest
in women! If she had listened…if she
had been patient enough to let Ken tell her what he had to, none of this would
have happened. It was all Miyako's
fault. Takeru hoped she burned at the
stake for what she had done.
Forcing
himself to think of happier things, Takeru made his way around to the rooms he
had given out to the dragon's victims. He had a letter to write to a very special person. Takeru could barely wait until the evening
when he could send it out.
* * * * *
Camping
outside in the heat was not Daisuke's idea of luxurious living, so when he
spotted an inn in the distance, or what he hoped was an inn, he whooped for
joy. The redhead had been traveling for
nearly two days, walking day and night and stopping only to sleep. He felt he deserved a break and hoped what
he saw on the horizon was indeed a comfortable inn. Determined, Daisuke continued trudging down the road, and when he
was close enough to see the sign hanging just above the doorway of the
building, he ran.
"Thank the
gods!" he shouted as he entered the inn, letting the cool air rush over him in
a sudden wave, relieving him of the heat of the outdoors.
A short,
sienna-haired teenager turned to Daisuke and raised one thin eyebrow above
slanted, curious green eyes.
"May I help
you?" he asked politely.
"Ah, yes,
are you the manager?" Daisuke replied, looking around at the quaint inn with
appreciation.
"Assistant
manager, but my grandfather is out. Would you like a room?"
Daisuke
nodded mutely before walking to the desk behind which the boy was standing.
"Yes,
please."
"Single or
double?"
"Single."
"How many
nights?"
"Just
tonight."
The boy
skimmed over a packet of papers he was holding in his hands.
"Okay, we
have a room for you. It'll be a moment
to set it up. Would you like a drink in
the meantime?"
Daisuke
smiled brightly.
"Yeah!"
The
teenager walked out from behind the desk and led Daisuke into the back of the
inn to the pub. The place was
incredibly crowded, but there was plenty of room for more. The boy took Daisuke to the bar and got
behind it to serve him.
"What's
your name?" the boy asked, filling a glass for Daisuke.
"Motomiya
Daisuke."
"I'm Hida
Iori."
"Hey, nice
to meet you!"
Daisuke
shook Iori's hand after he received his glass and took a drink from the glass
after releasing the boy's hand.
"So,
Motomiya-san--"
"Just
Daisuke, please," Daisuke interrupted, taking another couple sips from his
glass.
"Okay,
Daisuke, if you just call me Iori."
"Deal,"
Daisuke agreed with a friendly wink.
"So,
Daisuke, where are you from?"
Daisuke
leaned forward against the bar on his elbows in a sign of exhaustion and
fatigue and sighed.
"Tokyo."
Iori seemed
surprised, raising his eyebrows, piercing green eyes widening almost
imperceptibly.
"Really? Where are you headed?"
Another sigh,
only this time more tired and exasperated, as if it exhausted Daisuke to merely
think about the journey he had ahead of him.
"Tamachi."
Subconsciously,
Iori bit his lip, almost as if he were nervous.
"You know
there's a dragon there that's--"
Daisuke
nodded and interrupted Iori again.
"I'm going
there to slay it," he said matter-of-factly.
Iori merely
stared at Daisuke for a moment.
"Oh…good
luck, then," Iori responded hesitantly, though sincerely. He really did wish Daisuke the best of luck.
Daisuke
smiled wanly.
"Thanks."
There was a
pause then. Not an uncomfortable one,
but not necessarily a comfortable one. It stretched on for only a moment before Iori suddenly seemed to
remember something.
"Oh! While you're in Tamachi, could you do me a
favor?"
Daisuke
considered for a moment and figured the kid was nice enough, so he nodded.
"If you see
a tall, blonde-haired, blue-eyed boy wearing a fisherman's hat…could you give
him this note for me?"
Iori placed
the note in Daisuke's outstretched hand, and Daisuke glanced at it before
putting it in his back pocket. It had
"To: Takeru From: Iori" written on it, and little hearts decorated the surface
of the paper. The redhead smiled again.
"Sure."
Iori smiled
back, seemingly for the first time since the two had met. The smile was wide, and fit him very well.
"Thank
you."
* * * * *
Daisuke lay
awake in bed, staring up at the cracked ceiling of his room. The inn was old, he conceded, but then
again, Iori had implied that his grandfather was the manager, so it was
probably a family-owned business being handed down from generation to
generation. That made Daisuke
laugh. What was the family going to do
when they realized that Iori and this Takeru kid weren't going to be having any
babies to whom they could hand the business down?
Shaking the
thought aside, Daisuke tried to think about nothing. He hadn't gotten a decent night's sleep since the night before he
was given the assignment, and that was enough to kill his performance in the fight
against the dragon, but the redhead was also bogged down with worry and
apprehension of the fight. He was
surely going to lose. Daisuke thought
about the note in the back pocket of his pants. Well, if for nothing else, he had to survive to at least give
Iori's note to his Takeru. Maybe if he
were lucky, he would find Takeru first, and then fight the dragon. That way he wouldn't have to worry about
winning.
'Dammit!'
Daisuke cursed in his head. 'I'm
thinking again…this is not good for sleep!'
He again
cleared his head, wishing briefly that Jun were there to read him his fairy
tale. Instead, he began fabricating his
perfect man in his head…or trying to, at least. He didn't seem satisfied with anything of his ideas.
'Maybe I
don't have a perfect man…maybe I'm destined to be alone for the rest of my
life… No! No, no, no! You're thinking again! Stop it!'
Daisuke
eventually settled for the old counting sheep tactic. The animals were so boring he almost immediately fell into a deep
slumber.
* * * * *
/Trees
surrounded him. They were gray and
black, and were twisted into such awkward shapes that he did not recognize them
as trees, he simply knew they were. The
forest was cold and dank, and a perpetual fog seemed to drift endlessly about the
ground. He was watching something. He knew he was watching a dragon and an old
woman, but neither of them had distinguishing features…he just knew that they
were a dragon and an old woman. His subconscious seemed to be filling in gaps
for him, telling him what things were when he would otherwise not be able to
tell. So he watched the dragon and the
woman amongst the trees, only knowing what they were and not seeing them as
such. He watched as the dragon climbed
down into a large tree, only to emerge several moments later with a bag full of
something bulky and circular and a small box. The dragon talked with the old woman for a moment and then, enraged, ate
her. It then moved on, not noticing it
was being watched. Then, suddenly, his
surroundings changed from the forest to a tower. The tower was cold and dark, and very lonely. A chill ran over his body, and he realized
he was wearing only slight nightclothes. The clothing was his only indication that night had fallen, because the
tower had no windows. Suddenly, a dog
appeared and took hold of him. He
didn't resist. He didn't think he
wanted to resist, even if he could, so he let the huge dog with even larger
eyes whisk him away to some small cabin. Inside the cabin was the dragon he had seen earlier. Well, the dragon he had known was a dragon
earlier, as he had not actually seen it as a dragon. Before he could take in what was before him, he was reaching out,
to touch the dragon, but before his fingers could reach the scaly surface, a
fog of black and purple smoke surrounded the creature. An old woman stood where the dragon had
been, and her face was contorted in such a way that she looked anything but
human. She was angry, and in her rage,
she screamed words that he could hear, yet could not hear at the same
time. A fog, similar to the one that
had surrounded the dragon, surrounded him, only this time it was black and
red. He felt himself changing. His stomach churned sickeningly, and he felt
as if he was going to vomit. Before the
transformation was complete, he screamed./
* * * * *
He had
traveled for one full day and then some upon leaving the inn, and was traveling
in the afternoon of the fourth day of his total travel, but his dream still
plagued his thoughts. He refused to believe
it meant something. After all, it was
merely composed of things that were on his mind at the time…his fairy tale, and
the dragon. But something kept nagging
him; something at the back of his mind told him the dream was important. He didn't want to believe the nagging,
though. He didn't want to believe that
a dream as silly as the one he'd had that night could possibly be some sort of
prophecy. Dreams were nothing.
Daisuke
sighed, disappointed in himself for mulling over the dream so much. It was just a dream, just an awkward
compilation of things that were bothering his subconscious at the time. That was all it was. Daisuke was about to assure himself of this
fact further when he realized he had been walking through a town.
"Tamachi…? Am I in Tamachi…?" the redhead asked
himself, stopping and looking around to familiarize himself with the
surroundings.
Judging by
the wreckage and debris of destroyed buildings, he was right where he wanted to
be. Or, right where he was supposed to
be, rather.
"Great. Now to seek out that Takeru kid so I can
give him the note," Daisuke said, continuing to talk to himself, as he reached
towards his back pocket.
Suddenly he
froze and felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end and his skin
become covered with goose bumps. His
heart began beating furiously in his chest and a cold sweat broke out on his
forehead. Something pumped through his
body at an almost violent pace, causing him to feel slightly dizzy and like he
had more strength and energy than he actually did. Adrenaline, Daisuke realized. His heart knew something his mind did not. Daisuke swallowed, hard, finding the action proved to be much
more difficult than it should have been. Something was behind him. That
was what his body was telling him. Something was behind him, and it wasn't good.
Daisuke
took a few slow, shaky breaths, and clenched his jaw. He forced his feet to move, and they carried him along a pivot,
slowly, gently, so as not to surprise himself or whatever was behind him. Daisuke closed his eyes, not quite sure he
was ready to face his inevitable doom. When he opened them again, he found himself nose to nose with a
humungous blue dragon.
~End Chapter Two~
